Bob O'Malley's Whaleback Restaurant — Restaurant in Bourne

Read about the Whaleback online, and was excited to try another hole-in-the-wall, “hidden gem” type of place.

When you walk in, the whole restaurant is the bar area, with 4 small tables in each corner of the room. There are six picnic tables with umbrellas in the patio area.

There were only a handful of people here when we arrived, but the place quickly filled up in the next 15 minutes, leaving a few random seats inside, and no available tables in the patio.

There was a mix of locals and non-locals. Casual, low-key vibe. Sports played on the main screen and country music on a smaller screen. Mostly a 50+ yr-old crowd at this early evening time, with the exception of a younger, “Vineyard Vines” fashioned couple. A handful of people arrived later, but ended up ordering “to go” after learning of no available seating.

We arrived at 5:30 pm on a Monday. We sat at the bar, and were immediately asked what we wanted to drink. Drinks came within seconds.

Hubby ordered the fried clams which came with a side of fries, and said it was very good! I ordered the NY strip, medium rare. It came with slices of buttery zucchini and yellow squash. It was perfect. Although, since my husband finished his food while I was only halfway thru my steak, I was moved with compassion to share the rest of my meal with him. Lol. (Next time I won’t be so nice.)

With two whiskeys, one glass of white wine, and two entrees, we paid about $45 per person, and that included the tip.

Overall, we highly recommend the Whaleback and we’ll definitely be back when...

The Lobster roll is always amazing!! Perfectly toasted roll, delicious tasting lobster all made to order.

So with this in mind, I was making the annual drive up from Fla to hand out for the summer, and about 10 hours away the cravings started for one of their lobster rolls.

Being Easter Sunday afternoon for my expected arrival into Sandwich, I was only hoping I’d get lucky and they’d either still be open and or hadn’t yet sold out of the lobster required for the sandwich.

I called about 5ish as I had just crossed the Bourne Bridge, and was only a few minutes away. Called to discover they had already cleaned and closed the kitchen. As I explained my disappointment after driving straight thru from Florida and the cravings I’d been having, the guy on the other end of the call said he’d be happy to prepare a fresh lobster roll sandwich for me, after hearing I’d just driven straight thru from Fla.

I pull in to an empty parking lot about ten minutes later, walk inside to a very empty bar, with the Masters Tournament on the tv, and the two remaining employees chatting and fixing my meal to go.

While this place has always been amazing on the lobster rolls and fish n chip meals, their willingness to pull things back out and make yet one more amazing meal after they’d closed speaks volumes about the type of small joint this place is.

Thanks guys for pulling the end of a long 23 hour journey to the most perfect ending possible!!!

See you again numerous times in the coming weeks and...

Not fancy, just friendly, comfortable, and delicious!

Two of us split the sampler platter and still had food left over! More importantly, though, everything was cooked just right. The scallops were my favorite, full and fresh. The fried clams, fish, and shrimp were also made fresh, and that was especially obvious with the whole clams - no little box of frozen strips here! And the enormous piece of fish was sweet and clean. The owner (?) was very friendly, and even suggested other good places to try on our visit to Cape Cod. There are 5 tables, each with 4 seats and 8 seats at the bar. Add mostly locals who seem to know one another, another tourist or two, and it was full - but we didn't have to wait, even on a prime summer Friday evening at 7 pm. There's a dartboard, a jukebox, and a couple TVs currently tuned to the Family Feud. The place was clean, and handled my food allergy incredibly well. The tables themselves showed some wear, and the walls had some home-made repairs, but the whole environment fit together in a very comfortable, welcoming way. What a perfect first food stop on this trip!

(*No fish tacos or lobster rolls on the...